Lopsided Smile
by Luna082
Summary: She finally examined the intruder at her desk. He seemed awfully bored of whatever he was reading, choosing to slam his book closed and look up at her. "Hi, I'm Percy." He smiled like he talked to random strangers all the time. AU Inspired by 'galfoy'
" _As if the 'KEEP QUIET!' signs weren't obvious enough._ " She thought.

Annabeth sighed as the table beside her could not keep quiet. She sat alone like usual, her books and stacks of papers barricading her seat from everyone else. Everyday she sat at the same two-seat table by the window, far within the labyrinth of the library. And everyday at least two teenagers would destroy the silence and sanctuary of the enormous, high ceiling building. The library had been filled to the brim for awhile now.

Annabeth came here for as long as she could remember. It was her only escape where she could forget the deafening silence of an empty house or piercing shouts of her parents. It was also the only place she felt content.

She wasn't bothered by the fact that she was alone. She was almost always alone. At school, her friend recently moved away. One girl Annabeth never spoke to constantly had it out for her, spreading rumors and getting everyone to avoid her like the plague. Annabeth no longer paid attention to them. She just walked down the halls paying no regard to their empty stares. She was just used to it.

She jammed her headphones back into her ears trying to drown out the noisy girls on her left. Focusing back on her English paper, she vigorously wrote the next paragraph to her essay. Her eyes never left the page until she felt her table shake.

Straight in front of her, a boy dropped his textbook onto the table and continued to pull out the chair across from her. Aware of her glare, the boy looked up to her confused face. He had the audacity to give her a sheepish smile.

"Can I sit here?"

Annabeth reluctantly nodded before going back to her paper. It wasn't until the constant tap of the boy's pen on the table that Annabeth was distracted enough to take a break. Her hand was getting tired anyways.

She finally examined the intruder at her desk. He looked roughly the same age as her if not older by a year or two. His skin was deeply tanned as if he spent all of his days outside and his hair was jet-black. Annabeth also noticed that he was also extremely tall. His legs we crammed uncomfortably under the desk and sticking out at the side. He seemed awfully bored of whatever book he was reading, choosing to slam his book closed and look up at her.

"Hi, I'm Percy." He smiled like he talked to random strangers all the time.

 _Maybe he does._ She wondered.

Percy smiled at her for a minute before he stuck his hand out asking, "What's your name?"

"Annabeth."

* * *

Percy arrived at the same time the next day and the day after that. He continuously bothered Annabeth and her patience was wearing thin. His stupid lopsided grin was almost always plastered on his face. He either tapped his pen endlessly on the desk or sighed a thousand times before shutting his book. When his book was sealed shut, he would fluster her with questions and she would provide short one worded answers but that didn't deter Percy. He simply kept asking.

"What's your favourite colour?"

"Grey."

"Well that's unusual." He deadpanned before smiling, "Mine's blue. When's your birthday?"

"July 12th."

"Wow cool my birthday is August 18th. So I'm guessing you're older than me by..."

Annabeth wondered why she kept answering. If she stopped then he would probably leave her alone and she could finish her essay. But she couldn't seem to ignore him. At least the girls at the next table weren't as loud anymore.

* * *

Annabeth's essay was taking forever. She blamed Percy for distracting her so easily.

 _Where is he, anyways?_

Annabeth looked around for him, not noticing the empty table beside her. As if he read her mind, he pulled out the chair in-front of her and made himself right at home.

"Hey Annabeth!" He smiled

For the first time, Annabeth smiled back before writing the next argument to her never ending essay.

* * *

"Sooo... Annabeth. You seem to spend a lot of time here. Every time I come to this table hoping to see you, you never disappoint. Don't you ever get bored of writing that essay?" Percy asked suddenly, she didn't even see him sit down. The library was pretty quite today.

"Not really, you always seem to distract me anyways." She smiled at him putting her pen down. It had been a couple of weeks since she first met Percy. They had learned a lot about each other. Annabeth knew that Percy always came in with a smile and accidentally shook the table when he sat down. She knew that he would bring a book of some sort and try to read for ten minutes before shutting it closed with a loud sigh. Annabeth knew that he loved his mom more than anything and swimming was a second nature to him. She had learned that his mom put blue food colouring in his food and he had a severe case of dyslexia and ADHD.

After the first few days of trying to ignore him, Annabeth started to enjoy his company and she didn't feel so empty anymore. She finally had a friend to confide in and a person to make her smile.

"How's your mom's book coming along?" Annabeth changed the subject in order to get rid of his worried look. It worked because his lopsided grin slipped back on his face before he went on a tangent about how great his mom was.

* * *

"Annabeth?"

"Yes, Percy?" She answered, looking up from her sheet of paper.

"How come I never see at school?" He had just realized that they went to the school for the past three years but never crossed paths.

"I'm not sure. I guess it's because we don't have any of the same classes." Annabeth mumbled. She was taking four AP courses this year and had a very different schedule then him.

"But don't you think it's weird that I've never seen you before coming to the library?" Percy had troubled look on his face, as if he was trying to solve an impossible question.

"Don't worry about it Percy," Annabeth sighed before writing down another sentence. "How was your swim meet yesterday?" She asked, hoping to change the subject.

* * *

Annabeth was worried and her anxiousness was tearing her apart. Percy hadn't said a word since he sat down twenty minutes ago. His book remained open but he hadn't flipped a page in ages. She peered up at him, looking for a clue to his silence. His face was calm but his sheepish grin had yet to appear.

"Perce?" She asked tentatively. "Is everything ok?"

"How long have you been working on that essay?" He replied curtly.

Annabeth looked down at her stack of papers and she didn't know the answer to his question.

 _I swear I'm almost finished. Just a couple more paragraphs. I started least week? No. It was-_

"Annabeth." He interrupted her train of thought. His pressing eyes wouldn't leave hers until she replied.

"It's due in a couple of days. And I only started a week ago." She answered defensively, though she new it was a lie. She couldn't remember when the assigned due date was or when she wrote her first paragraph. She couldn't even remember the topic of her essay.

"Annabeth, when was the last time you left the library?" She started to panic. Annabeth couldn't remember anything besides talking to Percy.

 _When was the last time I saw my parents? Did I go to school yesterday? What day is it?_

Sensing her panic Percy took her hands in his and gave her a small reassuring smile.

"Beth, I can't come to the library anymore." He said calmly. "I can't keep doing this."

"What?! What do you mean you can't come anymore. It's a library! Anyone can come here."

"Annabeth you need to leave, you need to go outside. Look around you there's no one in here except you and I. No one has come in for days."

She looked around and he was right. The library was quieter lately because nobody came in anymore. Annabeth couldn't even remember the last time she spoke to someone other than Percy.

"If you want to see me again, you need to walk out the library doors." He said gently. "Bye Annabeth. I hope I'll see you soon." He stood up and lightly pressed a small kiss on her cheek.

* * *

 _Stop Annabeth! He's not coming back, he said so himself._

It had been a day since Percy walked out. Or at least she thought it had been a day. Looking down at her essay, she realized that even though she kept writing, her page was never full. She was still on the first and only page of her so-called essay.

 _It's like the words are disappearing._

Making up her mind, she abruptly stood up knocking her chair to the ground.

 _I need to get out of here._

Walking through the endless bookshelves, she searched for the exit. After walking through countless of aisles she spotted the exit. She looked around her, the library was truly empty. No one was there and she was alone. As she walked towards the doors she became more anxious. Quickening her step, she grasped the door handles and flung them open.

* * *

Her eyes were closed but she could hear a steady beeping noise. _Beep._ Every second there it was. _Beep. beep. beep. beep._

Trying her best, she slowly opened her eyes.

"Annabeth!"

She knew that voice. It was her mother's voice.

"OH Annabeth! Thank God!" Her father exclaimed with relief.

When her vision sharpened and all her senses slowly came back to life, Annabeth saw both her parents peering down at her with worried glances and a doctor at the foot of a hospital bed.

 _My hospital bed?_

"Annabeth, you were in a car accident." The doctor said slowly. "You have been in a coma for the past few weeks. Your vitals are looking quite normal at the moment but you will need to stay a couple days for observations. I know this is hard to digest- Annabeth? Can you hear me-"

She could hear him perfectly fine she just didn't understand. Then the thought slowly dawned on her.

"Where's Percy?"

Her parents looked at her concerned shooting the doctor a worried glance.

"Honey darling, who's Percy?" Her father asked quietly.

* * *

It had been a week since she woke up and less than a day since she was cleared from the hospital. But it took more than the worried glances of her parents to keep her in the apartment. She had to leave. She _needed_ to leave.

Walking down the street towards the central park, she remembered when Percy told her about getting kicked out of a playground. He feigned a look of exasperation but his mischievous eyes shone as she scolded him for-

 _Stop it Annabeth! He's not real. I made him up remember? He's a fragment of my imagination. A reminder of just how pathetic I am._

She berated herself quietly and her steps quickened. A gust of wind chilled her to the bone. Looking down she hugged her arms closer when she bumped into someone.

Mumbling a quick sorry under her breath she turned to leave. Before she could a careful hand wrapped around her arm.

"Wait!"

She recognized that voice. It was hoarse and urgent, but then again she could recognize that voice anywhere.

 _I made him up. He's not real. He's not rea-_

"Annabeth?"

Her eyes widened at his call. Glancing upward, she saw Percy standing there with a look of desperation. With lightning reflexes Percy tightly wrapped his arms around her small frame. People were staring, turning their heads at the strange couple before continuing on there way.

"Annabeth," he breathed. "You're here. Thank goodness. Are you alright? I know it was hard for you to leave."

She could hear a smile in his voice and she sighed in content. He hesitated for a moment.

"Are you really here right now?"

She let out a laugh and replied. "Yes, I am. Are you?"

* * *

 **AN: I hoped you enjoyed the story. I have absolutely no idea why I decided to write this but oh well. I just wanted to clarify that this story is complete and I wasn't planning on adding any other chapters. I also wanted to give major credits to a writer on this site "galfoy" she wrote the story 'Out of Mind' a Harry Potter fic and it was a gigantic inspiration for this story. She's an amazing writer and you should definitely check out her story because if you liked mine, her story will blow your mind away.**

 **Luna082**


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